Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I LOVE to make homemade pizza. It's my go-to meal when we have people over.

The pizza places that we live by are just OK, so I make pizza 3-4 times a month.

I like to make a margarita pizza with roasted tomatoes and tons of garlic and fresh basil.

The tomatoes are like jewels on the pizza and they are so sweet and delicious.

Recipe: Roasted Tomatoes by me

Ingredients

1 quart grape tomatoes

olive oil

salt

pepper

oregano

1. Wash and cut all the tomatoes in half and squeeze out the gel.

2. Place tomatoes on a pan covered in aluminum foil and spray oil.

3. Coat tomatoes in olive oil.

4. Sprinkle salt, pepper and oregano over the tomatoes.

5. Place pan in the oven on the top rack and turn the broiler on high.

6. Set your timer for 5 minutes and check the tomatoes and toss every 5 minutes. Tomatoes are done when they start turning black on the edges. This usually takes me 15-20 minutes, but all broilers are different, keep a close watch!

Once the tomatoes are cool, use them to top pizza or even pasta or salads. I know what you are thinking, I want to make that pizza! Pizza week is coming this fall, be patient!!

Monday, August 30, 2010

I always know when the end of summer is near. I get huge cravings for tomatoes. It's probably because when I was growing up, we had a big garden with tomato plants. August is always when we would be up to our ears in tomatoes. It was amazing and delicious.

For lunch my mom used to make us tomatoes with cottage cheese.

I found out a few years ago that most people eat cottage cheese with fruit. I have to say that I really prefer it with tomatoes, some salt and LOTS of black pepper.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

We have a door in our living room to go out to the patio. When we moved in, there was a very hideous, curry scented, bolted on curtain that I promptly removed. I put of a piece of white craft paper on the window for a few months to decide what I wanted up there when I came up with this idea using...

...contact paper!!

And it turned out great!!

Now I have art on my window!

It was a pretty simple stencil.

From outside at night.

It works great for privacy, it is easy to clean, and removable!!

Make your own!

1. Make a stencil or just draw straight or curvy lines.

2. Cut out the pattern.

3. Apply to the window. Clean window first! Peel a small portion and start sticking it to the glass. Use a gift card or credit card to smooth it onto the glass and peel the back away. Work slowly so there is no bubbles.

4. To clean window I use water and a microfiber cloth.

**During back to school time you can get sticky paper that they sell for book protectors and they come in many colors. Imagine all the fun things you could do with colors!! You may see them pop up back here in the near future!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. I used 2 cake pans. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and coconut milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above counter, then dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks.

Cream butter and slowly add the powdered sugar. Add milk until you reach the desired consistency. Stir in vanilla. Spread icing on the bottom layer of the cake. Place the other cake on top and spread icing on top and down the sides. Cover the whole cake in coconut.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Happy Orange Friday! This is the end of Lemon Week and my feet are feeling great, thanks to my shoes! These are my favorite shoes. They are crocs and they are so comfortable. But they are a discontinued style. I hate when my favorite things get discontinued!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

My husband shared this recipe at sweet beet and green bean with me and I knew I would have to make them for him. He drinks a lot of tea. I mean a lot. He wore out our electric kettle a few weeks ago and I had to run out and buy him a new one. :)

Anyway... back to the cookies. It is a vegan recipe which I think is great. I am not vegan, and I didn't want to buy special ingredients to make cookies when I had butter and milk in the house, so I decided to make them the non-vegan way. I found this lemon sugar cookie recipe and combined the 2 recipes together!

In a bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until smooth and light. Beat in eggs, lemon peel, lemon juice, milk, and vanilla until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.

In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir or beat into butter mixture until blended. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days.

Unwrap dough and roll the dough into 1 inch balls.

Roll the balls in sugar and lavender.

Press using your hands or a glass.

Sprinkle a little extra sugar/lavender on top.

Bake on greased pan or cooking parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake cookies in a 350° oven until edges are golden, 10 to 14 minutes; if baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking. With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

I made 55 cookie balls with this recipe. I only bake what I need and....

Freeze the rest of the balls before they get the sugar and lavender treatment.

Hi, my name is Kris. Welcome to everywhere orange! I'm a high school art teacher taking a break to be at home with my 5 and 1 year old sons. I have always enjoyed crafting and cooking, but in the last 5 years at home I finally had the time to really explore new things in the kitchen and focus on my craftiness at home. The color orange and I go way back, long before I met my husband 16.5 years ago. I wanted a place I could share recipes and the crafty things I make and some orange. Thanks for stopping by!!